Page 39 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

meeting many demands that these tasks bring. The incentive for working so hard is that it will all result
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in a better future.”
Reflection: Look back at the chart on page 34. Early Adulthood is stage 6 and includes ages 20-34. What
are your thoughts on Erikson’s beliefs about this stage? Does it apply to you in your life right now?

Adulthood
Physical Development: Our physical abilities –
muscular strength, reaction time, sensory
awareness, and cardiac output – all reach the
top of their development by the mid-twenties.
Like the declining daylight after the summer,
the decline of physical abilities begins
imperceptibly. Athletes are often the first to
notice. World-class sprinters and swimmers
peak by their early twenties. Women – who
mature earlier than men – also peak earlier.
But most of us – especially those of us whose
daily lives do not require top physical
performance – hardly perceive the early signs
of decline. Senses age later in life, physical decline is noticed, muscle strength, reaction time, and
stamina diminish noticeably. The body’s disease-fighting immune system weakens, making older people
susceptible to pneumonia and cancer.56 (photo: citifmonline.com)

Cognitive Development: No matter how quick or slow we are at remembering, it seems to also depend
on the type of information we are trying to retrieve. If the information is meaningless – nonsense
syllables or unimportant events – then the older we are, the more errors we are likely to make. If the
information is meaningful, older people’s rich amount of existing knowledge will help them to catch it,
though they may take longer than younger adults to produce the words and things they know. Older
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people’s capacity to learn and remember skills also declines less than their verbal recall.

Social Development: love, marriage, friends, children, work – all define the “who are you?” question,
which relates to “what do you do?”

Old Age (65-death)
According to author Saul McLeod, “Erik Erikson believed if we see our lives as unproductive, feel guilty
about our past, or feel that we did not accomplish our life goals, we become dissatisfied with life and
develop despair, often leading to depression and hopelessness.

Success in this stage will lead to the virtue of wisdom. Wisdom enables a person to look back on their
life with a sense of closure and completeness, and also accept death without fear. Wise people are not
characterized by a continuous state of ego integrity, but they experience both ego integrity and despair.

55 Clark-Plaskie, p. 2, 2020.
56 Myers, 2009
57 Ibid.

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